Six Tudor Queens: Katherine of Aragon, the True Queen

The lives of Henry VIII's queens make for dramatic stories, and Alison Weir writes a series of novels that offer insights into the real lives of the six wives based on extensive research and new theories. In all the romancing, has anyone regarded the evidence that Anne Boleyn did not love Henry VIII? Or that Prince Arthur, Katherine of Aragon's first husband, who is said to have loved her, in fact cared so little for her that he willed his personal effects to his sister?

Lancaster and York: The Wars of the Roses

Lancater and York is a riveting account of the Wars of the Roses, from beloved historian Alison Weir. The war between the houses of Lancaster and York was characterised by treachery, deceit, and bloody battles. Alison Weir's lucid and gripping account focuses on the human side of history. At the centre of the book stands Henry VI, the pious king whose mental instability led to political chaos, and his wife Margaret of Anjou, who took up her arms in her husband's cause and battled in a violent man's world.

The Lost Tudor Princess

Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox. Royal Tudor blood ran in her veins. Her mother was a Queen, her father an Earl, and she herself was the granddaughter, niece, cousin and grandmother of monarchs. Beautiful and tempestuous, she created scandal not just once but twice by falling in love with unsuitable men. Fortunately the marriage arranged for her turned into a love match.

The Life of Elizabeth I

The New York Times best-selling author of The Six Wives of Henry VIII and The War of the Roses, historian Alison Weir crafts fascinating portraits of England's infamous House of Tudor line. Here Weir focuses on Elizabeth I, also known as the Virgin Queen, who ascended to the throne at age 25 and never married, yet ruled for 44 years and steered England into its Golden Age.

Kindle Customer says:"A captivating look at Englands first great Queen"

Mary Boleyn

Mary Boleyn was the mistress of two kings, Francois I of France and Henry VIII of England, and sister to Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife. In this astonishing and riveting biography, Alison Weir's extensive research gives a new and detailed portrayal, in which she recounts that, contrary to popular belief, Mary was entirely undeserving of her posthumous notoriety as a great whore.

Isabella: The She-Wolf of France

Here is the first full-length biography of a much maligned but astonishingly colourful Queen of England. In Newgate Street, in the city of London, stand the meagre ruins of Christ Church. On the same site once stood a royal mausoleum set to rival Westminster Abbey in the 14th century. Among the many crowned heads buried there was Isabella of France, Edward II's queen - one of the most notorious femme fatales in history. But how did she acquire her evil reputation? And is it justified?

The Six Wives of Henry VIII

This acclaimed best seller from popular historian Alison Weir is a fascinating look at the Tudor family dynasty and its most infamous ruler. The Six Wives of Henry VIII brings to life England's oft-married monarch and the six wildly different but equally fascinating women who married him. Gripping from the first sentence to the last and loaded with fascinating details, Weir's rich history is a perfect blend of scholarship and entertainment.

Three Sisters, Three Queens

When Katherine of Aragon is brought to the Tudor court as a young bride, the oldest princess, Margaret, takes her measure. With one look each knows the other for a rival, an ally, a pawn, destined - with Margaret's younger sister, Mary - to a sisterhood unique in all the world. The three sisters will become the queens of England, Scotland, and France.

The Children of Henry VIII

New York Times best-selling author Alison Weir is one of the most popular chroniclers of British and European royal history. In this fascinating book she sheds light on the scheming, backstabbing and brutality that plagued England after Henry VIII's death. Filled with remarkable and sometimes shocking details, The Children of Henry VIII is an arresting narrative that brings the past to life and infuses it with all the flair of a riveting novel.

Take Six Girls: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters

They were known as the Mitford sisters: Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica and Deborah. Born into country-house privilege in the early years of the 20th century, they became prominent as 'bright young things' in the high society of interwar London. Then, as the shadows crept over 1930s Europe, the stark - and very public - differences in their outlooks came to symbolize the political polarities of a dangerous decade.

The Private Lives of the Tudors: Uncovering the Secrets of Britain's Greatest Dynasty

The Tudor monarchs were constantly surrounded by an army of attendants, courtiers and ministers. Even in their most private moments, they were accompanied by a servant specifically appointed for the task. A groom of the stool would stand patiently by as Henry VIII performed his daily purges, and when Elizabeth I retired for the evening, one of her female servants would sleep at the end of her bed. These attendants knew the truth behind the glamorous exterior.

The Strangest Family: The Private Lives of George III, Queen Charlotte and the Hanoverians

An intensely moving account of George III's doomed attempt to create a happy, harmonious family, written with astonishing emotional force from a stunning new history writer. George III came to the throne in 1760 as a man with a mission. He wanted to be a new kind of king, one whose power was rooted in the affection and approval of his people. And he was determined to revolutionise his private life too - to show that a better man would, inevitably, make a better ruler.

The Agincourt Bride

When her own first child is tragically still-born, the young Mette is pressed into service as a wet-nurse at the court of the mad king, Charles VI of France. Her young charge is the princess, Catherine de Valois, caught up in the turbulence and chaos of life at court. Mette and the child forge a bond, one that transcends Mette's lowly position. But as Catherine approaches womanhood, her unique position seals her fate as a pawn between two powerful dynasties.

Tudor: Passion. Manipulation. Murder. The Story of England's Most Notorious Royal Family

The Tudors are England's most notorious royal family. But, as Leanda de Lisle's gripping new history reveals, they are a family still more extraordinary than the one we thought we knew. The Tudor canon typically starts with the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 before speeding on to Henry VIII and the Reformation. But this leaves out the family's obscure Welsh origins and the ordinary man known as Owen Tudor who would fall (literally) into a queen's lap - and later her bed.

King John: Treachery, Tyranny and the Road to Magna Carta

The brilliantly compelling new biography of the treacherous and tyrannical King John, published to coincide with the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. Authoritative and dramatic, Marc Morris' King John offers a compelling portrait of an extraordinary king whose reign marked a momentous turning point in the history of Britain and Europe. King John is buried in Worcester Cathedral.

Wars of the Roses: Stormbird

The thrilling first instalment in the Wars of the Roses series - set at the beginnings of this turbulent period of English history which saw the throne change hands six times in 30 years. The Swan sees Henry VI crowned King of England, and married to the young French noblewoman, Margaret of Anjou - and so begins the extraordinary story of how England became a divided nation, where brother took up arms against brother. This was the war which defined the England we know today.

The Autumn Throne

England, 1176. Imprisoned by her husband, King Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of England, refuses to let her powerful husband bully her into submission, even as he forces her away from her children and her birthright. Freed only by Henry's death, Eleanor becomes dowager Queen of England. But the competition for land and power that Henry stirred up among his sons has intensified to a dangerous rivalry.

A Dangerous Inheritance

The year is 1562. Lady Catherine Grey, cousin of Elizabeth I, has just been arrested along with her husband, Edward. Their crime is to have secretly married and produced a child who might threaten the Queen's title. Alone in her chamber at the Tower of London, Catherine hears ghostly voices; echoes, she thinks, of a crime committed in the same room where she is imprisoned.

Winter Pilgrims: Kingmaker, Book 1

February 1460. In the bitter dawn of a winter's morning, a young man and a woman escape from a priory. In fear for their lives, they are forced to flee across a land ravaged by conflict. For this is the Wars of the Roses, one of the most savage and bloody civil wars in history. Where brother confronts brother, king faces king, and Thomas and Katherine must fight just to stay alive....

Elizabeth I and Her Circle

This is the story of Elizabeth I's inner circle and the crucial human relationships which lay at the heart of her personal and political life. Using a wide range of original sources - including private letters, portraits, verse, drama, and state papers - Susan Doran provides a vivid and often dramatic account of political life in Elizabethan England and the queen at its center.

Red Rose, White Rose

The powerful story of Cecily Neville, torn between both sides in the War of the Roses, from the critically acclaimed author of The Agincourt Bride.In fifteenth century England the Neville family rules the north with an iron fist. Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland, a giant of a man and a staunch Lancastrian, cunningly consolidates power by negotiating brilliant marriages for his children....

The Summer Queen: Eleanor of Aquitaine Trilogy, Book 1

Eleanor of Aquitaine's story deserves to be legendary. She is an icon who has fascinated readers for over 800 years. But the real Eleanor remains elusive - until now. Based on the most up-to-date research, award-winning novelist Elizabeth Chadwick brings Eleanor's magnificent story to life, as never before, unveiling the real Eleanor. Young, golden-haired and blue-eyed Eleanor has everything to look forward to as the heiress to wealthy Aquitaine.

Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette's dramatic life-story continues to arouse mixed emotions. To many people, she is still 'la reine mechante', whose extravagance and frivolity helped to bring down the French monarchy; her indifference to popular suffering epitomised by the (apocryphal) words: 'let them eat cake'. Others are equally passionate in her defence: to them, she is a victim of misogyny.

The White Princess

The haunting story of the mother of the Tudors, Elizabeth of York, wife to Henry VII. Beautiful eldest daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville - the White Queen - the young princess Elizabeth faces a conflict of loyalties between the red rose and the white. Forced into marriage with Henry VII, she must reconcile her slowly growing love for him with her loyalty to the House of York, and choose between her mother's rebellion and her husband's tyranny. Then she has to meet the Pretender, whose claim denies the House of Tudor itself.

Publisher's Summary

Elizabeth of York would have ruled England, but for the fact that she was a woman. One of the key figures of the Wars of the Roses, daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, she married Henry Tudor to bring peace to a war-torn England.

In Elizabeth of York: The First Tudor Queen, Alison Weir builds a portrait of this beloved queen, placing her in the context of the magnificent, ceremonious, often brutal world she inhabited.

What the Critics Say

Praise for the author:

"Weir provides immense satisfaction. She writes in a pacy, vivid style, engaging the heart as well as the mind." (Independent)"Staggeringly useful...combines solid information with tantalising appetisers." (Mail on Sunday on Britain's Royal Families)

I like Ailson Weir's writing and the idea of examining the beginnings of the Tudor dynasty from Elizabeth's perspective is an interesting one which allows Weir to explore the role of the powerful and influential women who help to shape the transition from the middle ages to the Tudor period. All of that warrants three stars and it's also well produced but it never really brought Elizabeth to life for me; either because as Weir says her life wasn't as consistently documented as male members of the nobility or maybe because she wasn't that interesting as a personality. Either way I'm giving this a three; worth a punt if you like history and have a credit burning a hole in your account; A bit bland if you want something to get your teeth into; in which case "A Distant Mirror" would be well worth a look.

There is very clearly little to write about Elizabeth of York - with the exceptions of maybes and perhaps(es). I'm guessing that Elizabeth Weir needed to write a book of more than 5 pages, which is probably all you would get from factual knowledge of her and so the book is made up of irritating guesses, maybes, would have, perhapses and merely conjectures. Even more irritating was the monetary valuation being recalculated into "being worth £(an obscene amount) today" at every mention of what was paid out to ladies, jesters, dress makers, and for fabrics, food, soap and just about anything to make up page numbers (it drove me potty!!!). The book was tediously long for very little information on Elizabeth of York, making it a pretty pointless book for me. A real shame, as I so thoroughly enjoyed The Wives of Henry the Eighth. I also got the impression that Maggie Marsh was probably just as fed up reading it by the dull set tones of her voice - but she did her best with the subject. Well, wouldn't recommend this book for the subject - but might be OK if you were looking for general information around that time and can suffer the tedium!!!

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This book was enjoyable in parts but was agonisingly detailed, to the point I nearly gave up half way through! More like an academic and thorough text with huge amounts of referencing rather than a lighthearted listen.

If you’ve listened to books by Alison Weir before, how does this one compare?

First by AW

Would you be willing to try another one of Maggie Mash’s performances?

No - I utterly hated her accents and voices. She pronounced 'diverse' as 'divers' so many times I could have screamed!

If this book were a film would you go see it?

No

Any additional comments?

Would have been better if it was half as long and got to the main themes and points a lot quicker!

In spite of the author's claims I did not really share her assumption about the extent of Elizabeth of York's influence. she was the daughter of two very powerful and forceful parents Edward IV and Elizabeth. Elizabeth came of age at a very dangerous time as Henry Tudor was about to make his assault on the realm then led by Richard III. It seems Richard was thinking of marrying his niece Elizabeth - a plan which Henry Tudor also had in mind. Although Elizabeth seems to have participated actively in obtaining a marriage which would make her queen; her life henceforth would be very much one of a devout and devoted spouse. Not only did she have a husband who knew his own mind and had a clear vision of where he wanted to take England but she also had a powerful mother-in-law who had managed to survive the turbulence of Edward's reign and fulfill her ambition of seeing her son Henry in power. Elizabeth's main role of course was to produce an heir, a task she managed to perform to the satisfaction of all. The interest of her life was in the abundance of detail the author could provide regarding domestic life - clothes, expenditure on jewels and furnishings and other items related to the household. These careful accounts provide us too with a vivid picture of how wide the gap was between the ordinary citizen and the court. The queen was not overly materialistic and she was always very generous and gave considerable amounts to charity. Henry VII who has gone down in history as a miser surprised me with some of his lavish spending on his wife with whom he seems to have maintained a monogomous way of life which, in those times was really quite exceptional.I enjoyed the book immensely in spite of having to grit my teeth every time the narrator did those awful foreign accents trying to imitate Italian and French ambassadors and I did not really appreciate her trying to do male voices either. The narrator reads perfectly well in her normal voice so I was able to continue listening right to the end. I cannot say I took away a picture of a particularly memorable character but I did gain a great deal of insight into the mores and social customs of the period which made the read most worthwhile.

I would not be in a hurry to listen to another book read by Maggie Mash unless her producer stopped the most awful renditions of foreign accents; there is an overdose of mock German/Dutch type accents in a mock male voice. I found them extremely irritating and totally unnecessary. I also got very tired of hearing terms like £3 which in today's money is ... I know this is how Alison Weir wrote it but it did get very irritating after about the 50th hearing!

This is a great book and if you're like me you'll want to listen to it again and again and again (and I have!).

The only downsides of the audio (and doing let these put you off!) are that Audible's chapters don't tally with the book's chapters; and the highly infuriating conversion to what something would cost today every other breath - this could have been easily eliminated if they'd included a PDF footnote, asides from only being valid information at the time the book was written.

I found it a bit confusing at times and am trying to work out why the narrator used a kind of Spanish accent when reading quotes. But I'm going to read it again to try and make more sense of what could be a good book.

Fans of Alison Weir knows that her historical nonfiction works are better than Cliff Notes. She checks, double-checks, and triple-checks her facts. This work is probably a winner in hard copy. However, the narrator totally ruined this for me. For some reason she uses all of these mostly male voices to emphasize at least one word or phrase in every single sentence. Sometimes there's 4 to 5 of these "dramatic flairs" in just one sentence. On top of not sounding very good in a male voice, she uses all sorts of accents , from British to Italian to Spanish - but, with the archaic prose of that era, she sounds like Hitler - punching each word out like people who send text messages in capital letters. This book should have been narrated by a man since most of the source material quoted is from male chroniclers. Narrators Charleton Griffin or Simon Vance or John Lee could have pulled this off successfully. All Maggie Mash did was "MAKE A MASH" from an otherwise great book. Her narration made it hard to follow the story line because her delivery is so discordant. Mash should have just read the book in her own voice which is pleasant and comprehensible. The book is a factual historical account, not a Shakespearian play! I had to stop listening after Part 1 of 3.

10 of 11 people found this review helpful

Terri

Onalaska, WI, United States

03/12/13

Overall

Performance

Story

"Narration Spoils Good Story"

Would you try another book from Alison Weir and/or Maggie Mash?

I have enjoyed several of Alison Weir's books in the past, and will read more in the future. This book, however, was spoiled by bad narration. It took me hours to not cringe every time Maggie Mash spoke in male voices with different accents. I agree with a previous reviewer in saying that a man should have been chosen to narrate this book.

With that said, I am glad I sloughed through it. Alison Weir did a wonderful job using the resources that are left to us to give us an intimate view of this Queen. It also offer me an new insight into the mind of Henry VIII.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Mary Elizabeth Reynolds

SUMMERVILLE, SC, United States

16/03/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"Didn't Connect with the topic"

During long periods of this book, I actually forgot who it was about. I know that there is little documented about this woman, but still, even supposition would have helped. It didn't help that no matter how you slice it, Henry the Seventh, nor Margaret Beaufort were nice people. I do wish Weir would just come out and say that is the way she feels, historian or not. Also, I agree with the others, I really don't like the woman who narrates her books

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Linda

Brackettville, TX, United States

28/01/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"The narrator is driving me crazy!"

I'm not sure I can get through this. The narrator does weird things (such as imitation French accent quoting an Englishman) with her voice when she is reading quotations and is not always understandable. Her regular reading voice is ok, but Really Irritating when she reads quotations. I know print books have proof readers, don't audiobooks have proof listeners? I was warned, but I am usually able to enjoy the book despite the narrator.

I'm about 2 hours in and periodically have to stop listening because it gets so annoying.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

leilani hannah

Sydney, NSW Australia

28/12/13

Overall

Performance

Story

"Ok"

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

It helped me get to sleep! Too dragged down with detailed information, especially continually converting currency into today's dollars.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Elizabeth of York?

None really.

Would you be willing to try another one of Maggie Mash’s performances?

No way.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

Really bad narration with bad accents. Way too much irrelevant detail such as currency conversions.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Robyn

Modbury, Australia

10/12/13

Overall

Performance

Story

"A different window on a familiar world"

This is another very good Alison Weir book. If it does nothing else, it provides a look at the familiar world of the English court from Edward IV to Henry VII through the eyes of Ellizabeth of York who lived and suffered through it all. There is not a great deal here which is new, and there is a lot of 'probably' and 'possibly' and 'it is likely' and so on, where there is scant or no evidence. Still, it is worth reading for the female perspective and it will be a must-read for Alison Weir fans and anyone interested in this period of English history. Maggie Mash did a fine job with the foreign words and Spanish accent, and her ordinary English voice is easy-on-the-ear. I did find her 'male' voice not so easy to listen to, even though it was appropriate and well done. Perhaps Weir should have relied less on direct quotes and paraphrased more. My only real gripe is Mash's phonetic pronunciation of 'ye' when it means 'the'. The use of 'y' instead of 'th' was simply a printer's convention - 'ye' as the definite article is pronounced 'the'. Did nobody on the production team know this?

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Leslie

Victoria, BC, Canada

29/01/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Tried twice but just can't stand it!"

Apparently I have an irrational prejudice against plummy English accents. I found it particularly irritating when the narrator put on a difference voice for the quotations. I'm going to have to actually read this one!

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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